Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Today the Obama Administration announced that it will be banning new offshore oil drilling along the continental US for the next seven years. The Surfrider Foundation applauds this decision and holds it up as a major victory for our nation’s oceans and coastlines, and for the local communities who depend on them for their livelihoods. The Surfrider Foundation is particularly proud of their 20,000+ activists who send letters and messages to President Obama asking for the reinstatement of the executive moratorium on offshore drilling. Even as hundreds of Gulf Shore communities continue to struggle to recover from this nation’s most devastating environmental disaster, today’s decision underscores the importance of grassroots mobilization to protect our nation’s natural resources. America must permanently ban all new offshore drilling, end the harmful practice of seismic testing and continue to move towards clean and renewable energy.

3 comments:

Anonymous
said...

While I agree with doing the right thing for the fishes and the ocean, it is still a perplexing conundrum for the Gulf people who need jobs now. There does not seem to be a cogent sustainable plan to replace the lost jobs and energy with the correct mix of green technologies.How to achieve the correct balance and maintain our democracy is the issue.What have you done personally of late to lower your use of petrol fuels? What is your personal plan to improve over each of the next 5 years?

The reality is that it was unfortunately not grass roots mobilization and phone calls to legislators by the Surfider community and others urging an end to offshore oil drilling that led to this recent policy decision by the Obama Administration. They did an about face from their surpising decision this past fall (to resume deepwater drilling in the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico) only after the government's report of findings from their investigation about the causes of the incident, which reportedly found that both the operators and oil companies knew there were serious problems with the rig's equipment and did not attempt to address them. It would have been bad politics for Obama to give them a pass on that type of flagrant and willful misconduct. Keep in mind that EPA bigwigs, under the Bush administration, actually intimidated their own climatologists in an effort to get them to fudge the results and minimize the damning conclusions from the global climate change research they conducted with our money. At least in this most recent case, the findings will not be ignored and the government has taken the preventive measures described.

Why does Surfrider Foundation oppose new offshore oil drilling?

SURFRIDER FOUNDATION OPPOSES ANY NEW OFFSHORE OIL DRILLING

Our nation’s oceans, waves and beaches are vital recreational, economic and ecological treasures that will be polluted by an increase in offshore oil drilling.

We strongly support reinstatement of the federal moratorium on new offshore oil drilling.

Instead of advocating for transient and environmentally harmful ways to meet America’s oil needs, we should seek a comprehensive and environmentally sustainable energy plan that includes energy conservation.